Sunday, August 26, 2007

Egypt

Found these shots from my trip to Egypt back in 2003. From top: Arabic McDonald's in Sharm el Sheik, interesting hyphenation in Coptic Cairo and a utility box in the suburb of Maadi.

After taking a photo of the U.S. embassy, I was held by police. In order to keep my camera (and secure my freedom), I had to delete a lot of my type photos. They didn't understand my interest in signs - and thought I was up to something. Somewhere in Cairo, there's a file on me.

Although the signs are in English, I suspect they draw them from right to left — or have a hard time grasping the western left to right technique.

I didn't go into a McDonald's while in the Middle East. The Iraq war was just starting (does anyone remember operation "Shock and Awe") and there was a lot of anti-American sentiment going around, including the boming in Riyadh the week before.

Villatype banner

Villatype is on twitter

Villatype on twitter

What is Villatype?

After admiring the signs and lettering on my walks to work, I wanted to document what I had found. We often discuss the cultural impact of architecture and urban spaces but rarely the words and letters found in these spaces. So here is villatype, a visual record and discussion of type and lettering found in the public domain. I hope you will all take part by adding to the dialogue and posting your own finds.

Call for submissions

villatype is always searching for found type and lettering in any public space. You can send me images along with your name, city, street and date. Or, even better, become a contributor and post them yourself by emailing me your contact info and I will add you as a contributor.